January, 2004

Meeting Information: Saturday, January 24 from 9:00 am to Noon

Hands-on Workshop with emphasis on tools and sharpening

at Russ Babbitt’s:

The first meeting of the year will start us off with a teaching session for new, beginning, and advanced turners to share ideas, techniques, and mistakes we have made or will make. Four lathes will be available at Russ’s shop plus several different set-ups for sharpening turning tools.

President Jim Rinde, requests that you bring several of your 3/8″ bowl gouges if you have one, or 1/4″ or 1/2″, so we can compare the various grinds and angles on the shapes that have been suggested by the “pros”. We hope to give everyone a chance to try several different types of tool “grind” one after the other on the same block of wood. As always for these hands on events, bring your tools (particularly if they need sharpening), safety gear, and a contribution of suitable wood for us to practice with. We will particularly need green wood for the bowl gouge comparison. Jim would like everyone to able to try making cuts on the inside of a 6-10 inch bowl with gouges that have angles of approximately 45, 60, & 80 degrees.

Remember the project challenge for this month’s meeting is to turn a bowl under 3″ diameter (meeting the Ventura County Fair category #5 criteria). See the December 2003newsletter for details. These will be presented as part of our regular show-n-tell session and we will see how thin you have been able to go. Jim has asked that we push the limits until the bowl breaks on our first attempt, so be sure to bring the failures also as these will be instructive.

The project challenge for February is a 6-12″ thin wall bowl which would meet the VC Fair category #1 criteria. Past president Sam Turner has put together some thoughts on the subject of function versus art in bowl turning (be sure to click on the link).

We last assembled for the 3rd annual Holiday Social December 6th, hosted by Lynn and Al Geller. Barbara Turner coordinated the potluck food, and Martha Etchart managed our first gift exchange. Thanks to these hardworking people and to everyone else who helped in one way or another the party was again theoutstanding event of the holiday season. If you were with us that night, and missed everything else this year, you not only saw examples of the excellent turnings our club members produce, but also the rapidly advancing skills of our “beginners”. Our philosophy of sharing skills, teaching each other, and generally having fun was very evident. The generosity of the quality work given in the gift exchange was remarkable with 14 people participating this year. Next year, now that the custom has been started and an example has been set, we hope that everyone will feel comfortable in participating, no matter what their current skill level is.

In coming President Jim Rinde present out going President Al Geller with a very nice bowl blank of primavera wood and also a solid brass belt buckle with the AAW logo. Al was instrumental in coordinating our participation in the June 2003 AAW Annual Symposium, and with the help of program chair Paul Myhre, arranged for the three professional demonstrators that highlighted last year’s program. Jim Rinde led the group that made the Trebuchet for the Club Challenge, and Sam Tuner coordinated our participation in theVentura County Fair with the first ever separate Division for Turned Work.

President Jim Rinde and this year’s program chair, Joel Oksner, have worked out another exciting schedule of events for 2004. Notice that in addition to each month’s topic, Jim has posed a challenge piece to try something you might not otherwise attempt. It will also give you work to enter into many of the categories for the Fair in August.

As a last note, please plan to pay your 2004 dues ($25) if you haven’t already done so. We will be handing out the new membership cards at the January meeting and copies of the membership list at the February meeting. If you want to be on the official printed list now is the time to join. You can join any time during the year, we always welcome new members, but now is the time to get into the printed directory! Contact any of the officers if you have questions.